shepherd

From Middle English schepherde, from Old English sċēaphierde, a compound of sċēap (“sheep”) and hierde (“herdsman”), equivalent to modern sheep +‎ herd (“herder”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɛpɚd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɛpəd/

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: shep‧herd

shepherd (plural shepherds, feminine shepherdess)

1. A person who tends sheep, especially a grazing flock.

   Synonym: pastor (now rare)

   Hyponym: shepherdess (f.)

   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

   1. A male sheep tender

      Coordinate term: shepherdess (f.)

2. (figurative) Someone who watches over, looks after, or guides somebody.

   Hyponym: shepherdess (f.)

   • 1769, Oxford Standard text, Bible (King James), Psalms 23:1

     The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

   1. A male watcher/guardian/guider/leader

      Coordinate term: shepherdess (f.)

3. (figurative) The pastor of a church; one who guides others in religion.

   Hyponym: shepherdess (f.)

   1. A male pastor

      Coordinate term: shepherdess (f.)

4. (poetic) A swain; a rustic male lover.
5. A German Shepherd.
   • 2022 May 19, James Verini, “Surviving the Siege of Kharkiv”, in The New York Times Magazine‎:

     The dirt floor, low ceiling and unfinished stone walls were barely illuminated by candles and a dim string of green decorative lights. A nervous shepherd mix barked at me as a woman tried to calm it. When my eyes adjusted, I saw people in corners.

shepherd (third-person singular simple present shepherds, present participle shepherding, simple past and past participle shepherded)

1. (transitive) To watch over; to guide.
   • 1893, Norman Gale, “In Pain”, in Orchard Songs, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews & John Lane; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 34–35:

     For me has Pain, the sentinel, / Been vigilant / To pace my plot and dwell / Within my tent; / Oft in the night with small alarms / Has stirred me out of rest, / Alert, oppressed, / Till shepherded within thine arms / And on thy breast, / O loving Lady, in the curse of Pain / I have been blest— / […]

   • 2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page viii:

     Each entry in this volume was assigned to a different preeminent scholar who was responsible for shepherding that specific entry, and that specific entry alone, into being.

2. (transitive, Australian rules football) To obstruct an opponent from getting to the ball, either when a teammate has it or is going for it, or if the ball is about to bounce through the goal or out of bounds.